It’s one of your favorite shows, and you’re totally into it…until you’re not.
Let’s face it, even some of the best TV shows lose their way. Plotlines become unwatchable, characters unlikable. The ship you rooted for with all of your heart sinks. Your favorite characters are killed off or written out.
Or worst of all, the show that once enthralled you now bores you to tears.
There’s too much good TV available to waste your time on a show you no longer enjoy. So our TV Fanatics confess to the series they used to love and why those same shows no longer make their watch list.
The Flash (The CW)
DJ: I quit The Flash (and Arrow at the same time, come to think of it) a few seasons back because every season felt like it was rehashing the same dynamic.
That being, the Big Bad hits the scene, stays several steps ahead of the team (or teams, in the case of Arrow). The main guy refuses to listen to reason. Then, suddenly at the end, there’s a big reveal, and Care Bear Power wins the day.
Laura: I stopped watching the Flash earlier this past season. It doesn’t have the same team aspect. I watched Cisco’s goodbye episode, and that’s it.
Supergirl (The CW)
Christine: I started off loving Supergirl, and Alex and Maggie were one of my favorite couples. I even enjoyed Mon-el and Kara, but at some point, I lost interest.
I think it was a combination of the everyone hates aliens storyline that mimicked too much of what was happening in the real world with immigrants and crossovers to other CW shows I didn’t watch. Somewhere along the line, I tuned out and just didn’t tune back in.
Laura: I stopped Supergirl for a while because I didn’t care about the couples, and the only relationships I cared about were Lena/Kara and Kara/Alex.
But, I went back when the outlet I was working at had an opportunity to interview Nicole Maines, and I grew to love Nia and Brainy. But it’s not the first three seasons.
The Blacklist (NBC)
DJ: I stopped watching at the end of The Blacklist Season 5. We only hung on that long because James Spader epitomizes The Smirk, but Liz’s constant incompetence could only be tolerated so long.
Jasmine: I feel like this series has gotten so convoluted and lost sight of its original concept. It has strayed in so many directions it became a series that you would watch faithfully and still not actually know what was happening.
Liz wasn’t the most engaging protagonist of the series, to begin with, but she became so annoying and insufferable that it made it hard to enjoy the series.
James Spader has been the one saving grace that held this series together for years but even that wasn’t enough to keep me engaged once the Liz/mother arc hit.
Dynasty (The CW)
Justin: Right now, I’m on the verge of not watching Dynasty anymore – the characters aren’t moving forward, and the plots aren’t fun.
Lucifer (Netflix)
DJ: I followed Lucifer religiously and followed it to Netflix for its first season there. I was a fan of the graphic novel, but by then, it had diverged so far it wasn’t recognizable.
Still, it had a lot of great characters. I could be tempted back for the final season.
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Daniella: It’s sad when the most exciting thing to happen during the most recent season were the guest appearances from former cast members, and not even that was enough to actually make me sit down and watch it.
The current characters are underutilized or mishandled and do almost nothing but undeservedly heap praise on Meredith Grey.
Plus, I can’t forgive the character assassination of Alex Karev.
Paul: Meredith’s COVID beach dream infuriated me. Yes, it brought some much-loved characters back, but it came at the cost of what little respect I had left for the show.
The latest season meandered, and the plots were dull. I will not be back next season.
The Good Doctor (ABC)
Sarah: I quit after The Good Doctor Season 3 because they killed off Melendez for no reason other than shock factor. It started to remind me of Grey’s Anatomy in that aspect, and I didn’t want to go through that hurt again.
Jasmine: I genuinely don’t understand how this series lost its appeal, but it never reclaimed the same greatness of its first season.
The loss of Melendez was such a blow to the series, and it was hard to recover from it. The cases and the moral, social, and other discourse surrounding them used to be more nuanced but became preachy and heavy-handed like they were checking things off of a list.
The focus on Shawn and Lea sucked the life out of the series. It permeated every aspect of it, which was particularly off-putting if you already were not a fan of this couple.
It became one of those shows that would pile up for weeks on my DVR before I got around to them, and then watching felt more like a chore. Also, none of the new blood characters stood out or sparked more than ambivalence.
Jack: Jasmine, I’m still watching and reviewing The Good Doctor, but I agree with you for the most part. My reviews for The Good Doctor Season 4 were mostly an exercise in how many different ways I could rant about it, having become the Lea and Shaun relationship drama show.
Not to mention how Shaun’s Autism seemed to have been forgotten about. It became a game to see how I could write them without boring my readers!
Paul: The Good Doctor really fell apart after its second season, but the breaking point was the death of Melendez. It was for shock value and didn’t advance the plot in any way.
The series is a shell of its former self. The cases are never unique or original, and it’s just become a very low-quality show these days.
The Walking Dead (AMC)
Mary: I left after the first episode of The Walking Dead Season 7, as I think a huge chunk of the fandom did.
It wasn’t just that they killed off my favorite character (they’d been doing that regularly). It was just abundantly clear that they didn’t trust their audience at all, and it felt very manipulative the way they structured the season arcs.
Character motivations grew more inconsistent and illogical. I kept up with it by reading recaps but watching it week to week just became too stressful and unsatisfying.
Riverdale (The CW)
Sarah: I stopped watching near the end of Riverdale Season 4 because it just got too ridiculous for me. And I ended up hating about 99% of the characters, so it just wasn’t enjoyable anymore.
Jack: I also stopped watching Riverdale. I don’t remember which season it was, but the one where Archie was in jail and dealing with a corrupt warden and then that weird Dungeons-and-Dragons-like game that was causing evil creatures to wreak havoc or whatever it was, was way over-the-top for me.
I found I was leaving it on my DVR for weeks at a time, and when I had five episodes saved and no desire to watch any of them, that was it for me.
Daniella: I stopped watching at the end of Season 4 but wish I had quit during Riverdale Season 2.
I stuck it out for as long as I did because I hoped the show would, like some other shows, come back strong after a weak sophomore season (I was so naive.)
I was having fun participating in the round table even though the show itself continued to sink. When a show can’t even get the basics right, like matching the right character to the right plotline, it’s not worth watching.
Mary: I also stopped watching Riverdale. Ha, seems like a running theme? You all held out longer than me, though. I only made it halfway through season 2.
I was always a big fan of the comics, and I appreciated the creators re-purposing the characters for a new, darker vibe, but soon it felt like they had strayed too far, and they were just characters who had the same name as the originals and had nothing else in common. It just got too ridiculous and implausible.
Then again, I only made it three episodes into Twin Peaks, so go figure.
Justin: I’m still on the Riverdale train. It’s an endless cycle of gaslighting hope, stagnate characters, and frustrating plots … but I’m still here taking in all the camp and absurdity. Crossing my fingers they can change, but the show REALLY needs a new showrunner and writers.
Outer Banks (Netflix)
Justin: I’m not watching the new season of Outer Banks when it returns because I find the show boring, and nothing really happened. I don’t get the hype anymore.
NCIS (CBS)
Christine: I’ve watched NCIS since the beginning, but having them once again tease a couple all season (Bishop and Torres) only to write Bishop out of the show is the final straw for me.
Ellie and Nick were the one fun, interesting pairing that had me tuning in this past season, but after this show strung fans along for years with Tony and Ziva, and I know the show creator did the same thing with Harm and Mac on JAG, well, fool me twice, that’s my fault.
But this was the last straw, so this long-term fan is finally done.
Charmed (The CW)
Paul: The series spent too much time on developing the character of Abby this season. The sisters are the heart of the show, and the plots should be revolving around them. With Macy gone, as much as it pains me to say this, I will not be back for another season. The show needs a creative overhaul to get it back to the show it was.
Christine: I really lost interest this past season and didn’t even finish it out. There were just too many subplots and focus on characters I didn’t enjoy. I’ve always enjoyed the core sisters, but now that I hear Macy is gone, I doubt I’ll check back in.
Below Deck: Mediterranean (Bravo)
Paul: I love this franchise, but Meditarannean circled the drain in Season 5 when Captain Sandy fired Hannah over pills it turned out she had a prescription for. This was detrimental to Hannah’s career and showed how uncompassionate Sandy really was.
Malia was also a part of the mess, and I refuse to watch the sixth season with the two villains.
I’ve read Malia is getting a better edit this season, but I can’t forget how horrible she was in the fifth season.
Sex/Life (Netflix)
Justin: I won’t watch Sex/Life when it returns for a second season because the main character was so frustrating and toxic.
Roswell, New Mexico (The CW)
Paul: I went to watch the Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 premiere and realized I had missed some episodes, and then I remembered…the second season was completely and utterly tedious, with some of the strangest plots around.
I hope the third season is better, but I won’t be along for the ride.
Big Sky (ABC)
Paul: The first case was excellent, but allowing Ronald to survive for the whole season — and beyond — was absurd.
The second mystery sucked, and beyond the characters, there’s not a lot going on. This one will probably not see a third season unless it gets back to the magic of the first case.
Now it’s your turn! Hit that big, blue, SHOW COMMENTS button down below and tell us what shows you’ve stopped watching and why!
C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.